


Welcome to Heartbreak

by VigilantePond



Category: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Genre: F/M, Jumanji - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 12:45:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13124013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VigilantePond/pseuds/VigilantePond
Summary: After the teens successfully leave Jumanji and get back into the real world, Bethany still has some loose ends to tie up. She's still in love with Alex, who is now older, and has a family of his own.





	Welcome to Heartbreak

Only a day had passed while the teens were stuck in Jumanji, but it felt like a lifetime for all of them. They knew that their lives would never be the same, but the friendships and newfound confidence that they gained from the experience was truly something to be cherished. As for Martha Kaply, she suddenly appreciated PE classes… you never know when you might need to run away from albino rhinos, or climb a mountain. She decided to partner up with Bethany for a tennis drill, even though everyone in their class was surprised as to why the most popular girl in the school was suddenly _bffs_ with the weird nerdy girl. 

Bethany was on her phone as usual, but her eyebrows were knit together and her eyes drooped in dismay. 

“Hey, is everything alright?” Martha asked as she sat down beside her on the bench. 

Bethany’s head snapped up, and she shoved her phone back into the pockets of her short shorts. “What? Y-Yeah, I’m fine,” she mumbled. 

Martha, eagle-eyed as always, caught a glimpse of the Facebook profile which Bethany had been scrolling through — Alex Vreeke’s. Suddenly, Martha understood.

“You miss Alex, don’t you?” Martha whispered. The truth was, they all did. They’d all bonded in Jumanji, but everyone knew how much Bethany cared about him despite the short time they spent together… she’d _literally_ sacrificed a life for him. Martha knew that if Bethany’s feelings for Alex were anything like hers for Spencer, she was probably heartbroken. 

Bethany just shrugged. “Yeah… It’s cool that he named his daughter after me, and stuff… Actually, when he told me that my heart just exploded. I have no idea what to feel right now.” 

“Do you still have feelings for him?” she asked. Never in Martha’s life did she expect that _she’d_ be giving Bethany Walker relationship advice. 

“Oh god, I don’t know. I think I do… that’s bad, right? He’s _married_ , with _kids_ , and he’s like 20 years older than me.” Bethany buried her face behind her perfectly manicured hands. 

“We can go visit him after school if you’d like,” Martha offered. 

She smiled weakly, “Yeah, that sounds good.” 

………………………………

Bethany Walker was used to getting anyone that she wanted, and she knew that plenty of guys and girls had a crush on her. Usually, she just went around breaking everyone else’s hearts, but her situation with Alex was different and it was her turn to get her heart broken. What if Alex came back to 2017 as a high schooler? Surely they could have been together then. Or what if she had gone back to 1996? What if he never got married and instead waited 20 years for Bethany?There were so many _What Ifs_ and possibilities that could’ve happened, but didn’t.

“Okay, this is it,” Martha said. The girls were outside the “Freak House” — as they once called the abandoned place — which was now adorned with festive decorations. Colorful lights and cheery wreaths were strung from the balcony, which gave the place so much life.

“Do you think he wants to see me?” Bethany combed her fingers through her hair nervously. 

“Of course he does. Come on.” Martha knocked on the door three times.

Alex answered rather quickly, swinging the door open immediately and greeted the girls with warm hugs.

“Hi! Come in, how are you doing?” He smiled.

It took them some time to get used to seeing Alex outside of the Seaplane McDonough avatar; it was easy to forget that this was _their_ Alex from Jumanji. The same Alex that saved them from Van Pelt, made them margaritas, and risked his life for them. They’d seen pictures of the young metalhead Alex from old MISSING posters, and online posts about his legend before. His face was obviously older now, with the addition of some wrinkles and grey hairs poking through.

“Great! We’re getting back into school… and stuff,” Martha replied, since Bethany was staring with her mouth open and dumbfounded.

“That’s good to hear. I really missed you guys during those 20 years when you weren’t even born yet… crazy, right?” he chuckled.

“Very crazy,” Bethany agreed. 

Martha got up abruptly, “Uh, excuse me I have to use the bathroom.” She knocked over a stack of magazines on the way, but it was fine because being awkward was her expertise anyway. It was obvious that she just wanted to let Alex and Bethany talk alone. 

“So…” Bethany clutched onto her phone. This conversation would have been so much easier over text. 

“Thank you again for saving my life, seriously. I’ll always be grateful for that and I wouldn’t be here without you,” he said. 

Bethany bit her lip, not for seductive reasons, but to hold back the tears from welling up. “Yeah, no problem. I really wanted you to be able to go home too.” 

“Bethany, I think I know why you’re here,” he began. “I had a lot of time to think since I got back from Jumanji…20 years. I really cherish everything that we had, but it couldn’t work out and the best thing for both of us was to move on. You’re an amazing girl, Bethany, and you deserve to _live_ , be young, and move forward. I want you to be happy, so don’t let me get in the way of that. Please.” 

“I understand that,” she said softly. “You’re right, it’s probably for the best.” 

“Sometimes I wish things had been different but… we just have to go with it right?” 

Bethany didn’t answer. 

Suddenly, Alex’s son began wailing upstairs and shattered the awkward silence. “I guess I should go check on him,” he muttered.

Conveniently, Martha was back from the “bathroom” and reappeared in the living room. “Yeah, and we should probably go do homework. It was nice seeing you.”

“We’re still friends, okay? All of us. We should all have dinner or something sometime, bring the boys too.” Alex suggested. 

“Yeah, definitely,” Bethany croaked.

He hugged both the girls again, and they watched as he ascended up the stairs. It was almost like watching his avatar literally vanish into thin air when he shook Nigel’s hand back in the game.

“Did that help?” Martha asked as they headed back down the road.

Bethany pondered for a long moment. She was still upset, but her chest didn’t ache anymore. The tangled knots had left her stomach, and she was beginning to feel some sort of relief wash over her body.

“You know what? I think it did.”

 

 


End file.
